The good news for San Francisco parents? Muni at long last intends to make it easier to bring baby strollers with actual babies in them onto its buses.

The bad news? Like a Muni bus itself, the policy change is on its way - but nobody can say exactly when or why it's been held up.

For years, official Municipal Transportation Agency policy has let individual bus drivers decide whether to allow a stroller on board. If it is allowed, the baby must be removed and the stroller must be folded. The policy also prohibits parents with strollers from using wheelchair lifts to board a bus.

In early April, the Board of Supervisors unanimously approved legislation urging Muni to allow unfolded strollers on board as long as they're not blocking the aisle, the wheels are locked and the babies are buckled in. The supervisors also said Muni should allow parents with strollers to use wheelchair lifts.

The legislation was co-sponsored by Supervisors David Chiuand Sean Elsbernd, who argued it was a small step toward making it easier for parents to stay in San Francisco after the 2010 U.S. census figures showed the city has fewer kids per capita than any other city in the country.

So the notoriously fractious supervisors - parents and nonparents, Muni riders and non-Muni riders alike - all agreed on the change and spelled out exactly what the new policy should say. That meant implementing it would be as sure a bet as the 38-Geary being stuffed like a sardine can during commute hour, right?

Nope.

Muni recently circulated a "Stroller Guideline Update" among supervisors. Dated June 12, it states that strollers are permitted on all transit vehicles except cable cars and that they can remain open as long as they're under control of the owner at all times, the brakes are set, they don't block other passengers' movement and they're not in the wheelchair area. Also, parents with strollers may use wheelchair lifts.

Sophie Hayward, a 36-year-old Inner Richmond resident, is the mother of a 2-month-old boy and 20-month girl. She won't take her children on Muni because hanging on to two little ones and a collapsed stroller is "completely daunting."

"I'm thrilled," she said of the eventual policy change. "I still think it's kind of low-hanging fruit in terms of keeping families in San Francisco, but it's an easy, free way to make things more manageable for parents."

But she'll have to wait a little longer. Muni spokesman Paul Rosesaid these changes haven't been communicated to bus drivers.

"Staff is currently working with members of the Board of Supervisors to finalize plans to make Muni more family-friendly," he said. "We should have final details for the new policies in the coming weeks."

Since the changes are pretty much exactly what the supervisors said they wanted three months ago, it's unclear why more discussion is needed.

Chiu said he's pleased - mostly.

"While I wonder why it took so long, I'm glad the MTA is taking this simple but important step to help our families use public transit," he said.

More than three months to figure out how to allow parents to take baby strollers with babies in them on buses? Just imagine how long it'll take city officials to figure to out affordable housing, affordable day care and an easier school assignment system.

How's the weather up there? From a bird's-eye view over the city, a new 125-foot building on the eastern waterfront looks pretty small. But South Beach neighbors are now envisioning just what a 125-foot-high basketball arena will look like from street level - and they're squawking like so many seagulls.

Experts say the Warriors' planned 125-foot height is likely a minimum and not a maximum; after all, Staples Center in Los Angeles is 150 feet tall.

Even the 125-foot height would be just 18 feet shorter than the bottom of the lower deck of the Bay Bridge as it stretches out from the city over the bay.

The 125-foot height would be 10 feet taller than AT&T Park at its peak, but unlike the baseball park, the basketball arena would be of equal height all the way around. The arena would be the second tallest building other than the Ferry Building between Pier 39 and AT&T Park.

"When you bring something that big into a tight neighborhood like South Beach, it will look immense," said Lawrence Stokuswho lives across the street from the site. "It will look like the mother ship in the movie 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind.' "

Mayor Ed Leesaid he's aware of the concern, but that he still believes Piers 30-32 are the best place for the arena. He said he's heard people say, "Basketball arenas are like boxes - why would you put it on the waterfront?"